Just a couple of months ago, Watford had made an impressive enough start to the season for their new manager Marco Silva to be pursued by Everton.

Now, Silva is the ex-manager, with the Hornets pointing to Goodison Park as a distraction that led to his side picking up just five points from the last 33 available.

Watford still sit 10th but the Premier League is incredibly congested in the bottom half this season and they sit only three points above fourth-bottom Stoke City and five above Southampton in the final relegation spot.

Malaga coach Jose Lopez has emerged as the frontrunner to take the job – and start life in the Premier League away at Stoke on Wednesday, January 31. He was priced 6/1 first thing today and has since fallen to 6/4.

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Manuel Pellegrini is 10/1, Ronald Koeman, Roger Schmidt and Slavisa Jokanovic can be found at 12/1. Mark Hughes, the recently departed Stoke boss, is 3/1 with Ladbrokes.

Instead, however, it looks like former Malaga coach Javi Gracia will be the one who gets the gig.

Watford said in a statement: “This has been a difficult decision and one not taken lightly. The club is convinced the appointment of Silva was the right one and had it not been for the unwarranted approach by a Premier League rival for his services we would have continued to prosper under his leadership.

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“The catalyst for this decision is that unwarranted approach, something which the Board believes has seen a significant deterioration in both focus and results to the point where the long-term future of Watford FC has been jeopardised. For the security and success of the football club, the board believes it has to make a change.